Cloud-native app development is growing among companies of all sizes for a very simple reason: the cloud enables a more efficient and responsive app development process. Developing and deploying apps in the cloud allows for the “continuous deployment” of software, empowering companies to adapt quickly to evolving market and user demands.
Equally important, cloud-native apps take advantage of a growing ecosystem of tools, platforms, and managed services that facilitate app development, deployment, and maintenance. We’ll explore this mature cloud ecosystem in-depth, describing why it’s growing and how it presents massive sales opportunities for cloud service providers, especially those involved in open source managed services (OSMS).
Open source software is code that is designed to be publicly accessible, meaning anyone can see, modify, and distribute the code as they deem fit. Developed in a decentralized, collaborative way, open source software relies on peer review and community production. As a result of its non-proprietary and collaborative nature, open source software is generally cheaper and more flexible.
The Kubernetes website describes Kubernetes, or K8s, as a “portable, extensible, open-source platform for managing containerized workloads and services, that facilitates both declarative configuration and automation.”
Kubernetes was open sourced by Google in 2014 and it plays a central role in the entire cloud-native ecosystem for software/app development. So do containers, which are pre-fabricated, pre-packaged bundles of code that can be deployed and reused as the building blocks for cloud native app development. If containers are the flexible building blocks for cloud-native app development, then Kubernetes is the foundation upon which those building blocks get deployed.
According to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, the number of developers using Kubernetes increased by 67% from Q1 2020 to Q1 2021.
As an open source platform, Kubernetes is not a traditional, all-inclusive PaaS provider. Developers can bring in and integrate some of their own tools and services with KBs to optimize their app development process. Here are just a few of the basic benefits that Kubernetes provides to developer:
We’ve seen that Kubernetes is an important, open source component of the cloud-native ecosystem – but it's not comprehensive by any means. Cloud-native developers will need other tools and services in order to develop, deploy, and maintain their apps.
Open source managed services, or OSMS, have become an essential component of the cloud-native app development ecosystem. These evolving tools and services provide app developers and businesses with even more ways to take full advantage of the cloud and open-source software. Kubernetes lists over 200 partners, which they call “certified service providers”, who integrate with their platform.
Open-source managed services are built atop an “open core model,” meaning the core functionality is offered as open source (as in the case of the Kubernetes platform), with proprietary fee-based services (i.e., OSMS) placed on top. OSMS providers exist to make the configuration, monitoring, and management of cloud native apps easier, faster, more predictable, and more reliable.
Forbes explains that “OSMS providers are mostly focused on businesses that are not cloud infrastructure experts or don’t have the engineering resources of a leading technology company like Amazon, Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Rather, they are focused on companies that want to use open-source IaaS/SaaS products like Kafka, Kubernetes, Cassandra and Presto in the cloud, without having to become experts in the technology or hire dozens of engineers to manage it.”
OSMS providers have tremendous opportunities with the ongoing growth of cloud native app development, but they face challenges too, many of them triggered by the nature of Kubernetes and open source itself. The top OSMS challenges in 2022 include attribution, monetization, and competition. Let’s dive into the details of each.
One indicator of a company's need for OSMS is its chosen hosting environment. Businesses investing in both data center and cloud solutions – better known as hybrid cloud – should be getting extra attention from OSMS providers because open source platforms offer the best foundation for hybrid environments. Open source offers consistency and flexibility across every environment with integrations, data, and analytics that enable applications to run smoothly.
According to Intricately data, hybrid cloud strategies are most common among enterprises (31%), but are also increasing in the mid-market tier (22%). The hybrid cloud will only continue to grow in 2022 and beyond. Data like this can serve as your GPS, showing you where prospects are today and we’re they’re planning to go next with their cloud strategy, usage, and vendor mix.
Intricately data shows that 19% of all businesses have currently deployed more than 10 applications. The more applications a company deploys, the larger their budget, which makes them ideal prospects for OSMS/managed service providers. The 9% of businesses with 20 or more applications deployed should be considered top prospects for OSMS providers in 2022.
Intricately's 2022 Market Trends in Cloud-Native Computing Report offers an unparalleled view into the adoption, usage, and spend of cloud-native buyers and market trends around the world.
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